Summertime Learning

      Summertime may offer a break from formal schooling, but learning can take place in all sorts of formal and informal ways throughout the summer.  Many school districts offer summer programs that are part academic and part recreational.  Boy Scout and Girl Scout summer camps offer lots of learning opportunities that involve working with groups of people as well as individual projects.  Of course many libraries offer summer reading programs for children of all ages.


       Family trips during the summer offer children the opportunity to learn about different places and different people and (perhaps) different foods and different climates.  There are also many online programs that help students to sharpen their math skills such as TenMarks and Discovery Education.

       Learning takes place in all sorts of settings and in all times of the year.  Summertime can provide time for families and for children to explore interests and build on abilities.

       What will you learn this summer?

Lots of Helpful People

     In the one-room school house, there was a teacher and that was it.  It was probably a very caring teacher who (maybe) knew her students and their families very well.  But it was one person and that was it.

     Today, our public schools have librarians and nurses and school counselors and aides and assistant principals, and (maybe) math specialists and reading specialists and special education teachers.  We know that students need good teachers, but they also may have other needs that can be addressed by other professionals.  We want our students to be good learners, but also want them to be healthy, happy members of society.

     And these people are here to help the parents as well as helping the students.  Our public schools take on a lot of responsibilities in an effort to help our students to be the best that they can be.  It is a big job to educate children and it takes a lot of people to do the job right.

     So, in addition to thanking your teacher, be sure to thank the other people in the schools that come to work everyday to make the school experience positive and to help your child in every aspect of their growth and development.

     What's so good about public schools in America?  Lots of helpful people!